Wash cloths and scrubbing devices have long been known, and in the United States have become so commonplace as to be sold in combination with towels and bath mats.
In the United States, the wash cloth is generally a high-pile cotton fabric material, whereas in Europe it is quite often a woven fabric, fairly thin and smooth.
The manufacture of wash or scrubbing mitts or gloves is also well-known, and quite often these are made of the same high-pile cotton fabric as the flat wash cloth.
In the last decade or two, the use of disposable fabrics for cleaning, polishing, scrubbing, etc., has been developed, and it is also well-known to provide a needle-punched, high-pile, nonwoven fabric material for carpets, wall coverings, geotextiles and the like.
With many of these washing fabrics, a soap or detergent is often separately applied or provided.
To distinguish from all of these devices of the prior art, my invention comprises a disposable, nonwoven, high-pile wash mitt including a detergent material and means which provide a timed release of the detergent. The basic material is a nonwoven felt, which is made of staple fibers carded and mechanically interlocked. The felt is then structured by use of special forked needles to create a high-pile fabric, which is subsequently back-coated with a detergent and dried to remove all of the water so as to create a finished product which is dry-to-touch. The fabric is then subsequently cut and sewn into a mitt-like product; and by merely adding water, the detergent is released from the encapsulation of the structuring process and the cleansing process begins.
One of the primary objects is to provide a disposable wash-mitt for the cleaning of autos, boats, trucks, campers, and other similar items.
A further object is to provide a disposable mitt which is effective with detergent, until the detergent is removed therefrom, but which also serves as a scrubbing device without detergent.
An additional object is to provide a needle-punch fabric which has recesses formed therein for the timed-release of the detergent.